Film stars step back on stage

McGregor says his break from the stage was too long

LONDON, England -- Movie stars Jude Law and Ewan McGregor have branched into theatre with their company signing a deal with a leading London West End theatre company.

Natural Nylon will revive classic plays, such as Dr Faustus and Chekhov's Three Sisters, as well as commission new works.

McGregor, whose films include "Trainspotting" and "The Phantom Menace," said: "This is purely an attempt to do some good theatre, commission new writing, adapt the classics and to do our own thing."

London theatre has recently attracted a string of Hollywood stars, including Kathleen Turner, Kevin Spacey and Jessica Lange, but McGregor stressed this was not an attempt to redress the balance with Hollywood.

Along with their Natural Nylon colleagues -- fellow actors Sean Pertwee, Jonny Lee Miller and Law's wife, Sadie Frost -- they have already produced films such as David Cronenburg's eXistenZ.

Now they have signed a deal with leading theatre company Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) to move into stage work.

Some of the plays would be turned into films where appropriate, they said on Thursday.

"It was a natural progression for Jude and I -- that's where we started off," said McGregor of the move to theatre.

They were unsure how many stage productions they would appear in, especially as filming commitments would restrict theatre work.

Law added: "Personally speaking there's only so long you can go from film to film to film. There's an inspiration an actor gets from the stage."

McGregor, who returned to the stage last year, said: "I left it for seven years before going back on stage. I know now not to leave it so long."

ATG owns or manages a string of venues throughout London's West End, as well as many regional theatres.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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